Monday, April 2nd, 2012

Thought I'd give everyone a heads-up about a poetry event to kick off National Poetry Month here in Colorado Springs:

To launch April as National Poetry Month, Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Jim Ciletti will host an All City All Voices poetry event at 6:30, Monday evening April 2, in the Carnegie Room of the Penrose Library downtown. "We will release the new version of Poetry While You Wait and have readings from many of the PWYW poets. We will also hold our first ever multi-cultural bi-lingual poetry event. We have many nationalities and ethnic communities in the Pikes Peak region . This All Voices poetry event is an opportunity for everyone to share and celebrate their particular ethnicity and cultural roots. For example, I will share poems in both Italian and English. So, whether you speak an Asian Pacific language, Native American, have African American roots, German, Nordic, Hispanic, Russian, Middle Eastern, etc etc, this is your invitation to share poems in both your ethnic language and English. Everyone is welcome," Ciletti said. Reservations to perform are not necessary but Jim would like your RSVP to read at jimciletti@comcast.net or 634-2367.

To support and celebrate our multi-cultural community the latest version of Poetry While You Wait also has poems in several language. The Poetry While You Wait booklet originated with Emeritus Poet Laureate, Aaron Anstett and is filled with poems by residents of the Pikes Peak region. PWYW will be placed as a free reading copy in public places where we "wait," like doctors' and dentist's offices, the car repair store, tire store, DMV, etc. Free copies of PWYW will be available at the All City reading.

FEBRUARY REVIEW & MARCH PREVIEW

Greetings!

This Friday, March 9th, at 7:30pm, the Colorado Springs Writers Reading Series will host poet Kitty Jospe, in town from Rochester, New York. Besides having her work collected in a recent book (Cadences) from Foothills Publishers, Kitty is also an accomplished pianist, community member, and French linguist. Everyone who attends this reading is bound to be warmed by Kitty's heartfelt presentation and accessibility.

Last month, CSWRS hosted L. Annette Binder, who graciously offered free copies of her forthcoming book, Rise, to the first five people to sign up. The list filled quickly, and I'm happy to tell those of you who weren't able to get your name on there: Annette has sent three small copies of One Story: Nephilim to sell at this month's reading. Note that there are only three of them, and they're first come first served. It's a tidy publication that's yours for $10.

The energy from Annette's reading still hasn't quite worn off of me yet. She had us hooked, wound up in her title character Freda's vivid childhood shaped by gigantism: its realities and its deep pathways into the imagination.

I thought I'd post some of the photos from the reading, taken by photography student Mary Rose. There are a couple good shots from various points in the evening, including Annette's reading as well as the Open Mic portion and the minutes in between. Thank you, Mary Rose!

M.R. Hyde, previous featured author and February Open Mic participant

Julie Shavin, Poetry West, Open Mic participant

Dan Gardner, Open Mic participant and author of The ESL Dating Diaries

Myself, with Annette

The one and only L. Annette Binder, reading from Nephilim

See you all this Friday at 7:30PM. Have a great week!

Abby E. Murray

CSWRS Coordinator

JANUARY REVIEW & FEBRUARY PREVIEW

Guten Tag, meine Freunde!

Well, I wasn't able to host the January event for the Writers Reading Series, but our guest hostess, Janele Johnson, and the lovely Patti Mirehouse have told me it was a fun evening -- I hope everyone enjoyed Sandra Knauf as well as her contributors and their different approach to the featured reading. Sandra's got issues of Greenwoman Magazine if you're interested in purchasing copies still, and for those of you with writing students, I would encourage them to submit their garden- and/or nature-related work. It's a magazine with spunk, flavor, and distinctive voice.

I will be at the reading this Friday, the 10th, at 7:30PM at the BAC -- and I'm so excited. First of all, February is my birthday month and I love Valentines Day. I love the richness that the downhill slide of winter brings -- it's still cold enough to bundle up, and our thoughts are set on warmth. Second, the featured author for February is L. Annette Binder, winner of a Pushcart Prize and the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, Annette creates the. coolest. short stories. (Find her bio here.) We will, of course, start the evening with a short Open Mic session, and Annette will take over after intermission.

Looking forward to seeing all of you there. Remember, if you have questions about upcoming readings, you can contact me by leaving comments here or emailing cswritersreading@gmail.com.

See you Friday!

Abby E. Murray

CSWRS Coordinator

SIDE NOTE

I forgot to mention something in my blog post yesterday. I currently have available seats in my English 227 (Poetry Writing) class at PPCC this spring. Enrollment is still open, and I'd love for those of you who are interested-- in Colorado only, though, as it's a face-to-face class-- to register, or spread the word to those of your writing friends who might enjoy the class. Honestly, I think the study of poetry is educational for any student or intellectual, so even if you write primarily fiction or nonfiction, try it out.

This class meets at the Centennial campus, Monday nights from 5:30 till 8. We'll be completing one rhetorical analysis, tons of writing exercises and prompts, and several workshop sessions. Hope you can join!

Abby E Murray

CSWRS Coordinator

JANUARY PREVIEW & DECEMBER REVIEW

Here's an announcement before I get to the photos from last month's reading. At 7:30pm on Friday, January 13th, the CSWRS event will have a guest host, as I will be out of town for that particular weekend. (And I will be purchasing a very large, very obnoxious daily planner so this double-scheduling doesn't happen again.)

Janele Johnson, chair of the literature department at PPCC, will be stepping in for me. You might remember her from March 2011, when she presented her poetry as a featured author. She's basically awesome. Books will still be sold at the book table, we'll still be in the BAC main gallery, and there will still be a suggested donation of $2/person to pay for venue costs. Remember to support the BAC by purchasing a drink at the bar! Feel free to email me with any questions at cswritersreading@gmail.com, or leave a comment here on the blog.

The January event will resume our regular format of ten Open Mic readers (3-5 minutes each), a short intermission, and our featured guest, Greenwoman Zine editor and publisher Sandra Knauf. I first learned about Sandra's writing through this article in The Gazette. I'm sad that I'll miss her reading, but I know each of you will enjoy it. Nonfiction buffs, gardeners, and those who find inspiration in nature should make sure they don't miss this one!

Okay. So December's reading was fantastic. We had a great turnout, and the rich artwork lining the walls of the BAC seemed to envelop everyone in attendance. Books by past featured authors were sold, and peppermint cookies were consumed.

Oh. And did I mention that we had three fabulous writers share their work?

Michael Ferguson, a regular Open Mic contributor

and student of writing at UCCS, shared a fiction piece exposing

the complex relationships between brothers and fathers.

M.R. Hyde (of the blog I frequent, HydeWords) read a holiday story that had

everyone rolling. ReeAnn "does the voices" of her characters - something

I've always admired about hearing her written work!

Tim Christian, another writer who reads his characters so perfectly

well aloud, had copies of his first novel (The Strange and Thrilling

Adventures of James Charles Fogarty) for sale, and more copies

will be available at future readings.

My thanks to those who read during our shortened Open Mic session. It was another successful night for the creative writing that flourishes in Colorado Springs.

Enjoy January's reading!

Abby E Murray

CSWRS Coordinator

NOVEMBER REVIEW & DECEMBER PREVIEW

A couple of weeks ago, poet and writing instructor Sandy Tseng read selections from her book of poems, Sediment, as well as some new work yet to be published. We were again situated in the main gallery of the BAC in Manitou Springs, where impressive oil paintings had been hung on every wall. Sandy's work orbited round two themes that are actually closely linked in emotional quality: tragedy overseas, and loss. Her volunteer work in Haiti shone through as strongly as her love for her ill and aging yellow lab, Hamlet.

I've always felt that the way a writer responds to animals, especially those closest to her, the ones she's cared for and let care for her, is one of the simplest indicators of how her creative process works. Our link to imagination is what we know through experience. Sandy's poems showed the November audience how her particular experiences with others, human or animal, became catalysts for poetic composition. Her book will still be available for sale at the December reading, in case you missed out on buying a copy!

December, the month of chilly green and white, of busy schedules and holiday baking, will shake things up a bit for the Writers Reading Series. At our next event, Friday, December 9th, at 7:30 in the BAC, the Open Mic list will be shortened to a maximum of three readers (still 3-5 minutes apiece) in order to accomodate our three featured readers: fiction writers Tim Christian, Michael Ferguson, and M.R. Hyde will be in the spotlight with short selections of their own works. These writers have just begun to publish their works more widely, and the audience will have a chance to support them. These are also the three writers that have attended CSWRS events most regularly, captivating us during their Open Mic readings.

I look forward to seeing everyone there. Spread the word about CSWRS, too, and bring a friend. Speaking of spreading the word... I'm going to be teaching an English 227 (Poetry Writing) course through Pikes Peak Community College in the spring, Monday nights from 5:30 till 8, if any of you Colorado writers is interested. You don't have to be a poet to participate, either-- in fact, I recommend poetry classes to fiction and nonfiction writers all the time. As a poet, I've learned a great deal from the prose classes I've taken in the past. So, if you know anyone who may be interested in this course, tell them to contact me!

See you on the 9th at 7:30!

Abby E. Murray
CSWRS Coordinator

OCTOBER REVIEW & NOVEMBER PREVIEW

Kathryn Eastburn, featured reader for this month's Colorado Springs Writers Reading Series, showcased selections from her books of essays as well as her regular column ("The Middle Distance") for the local NPR station, KRCC. Her imagination captivated everyone as much as her personal perspectives on writing and loss.

A week after the reading, I was back at the BAC for a preview-exhibit of artist Laura BenAmots' collection of larger-than-life paintings under the title "Battle Portraits." Laura emphasized how much her work functions as a part of soldiers and their stories as they became involved in the arts after or between deployments. Kathryn was at the preview as well, and, over glasses of wine and mini-cupcakes, we continued discussing her idea of starting an eight-week workshop for soldiers and vets interested in creative nonfiction. The pilot workshop will take place in January 2012, and I get to be part of it too, teaching a couple weeks of poetry within it. If you know someone who might be interested in enrolling, please email me and let me know (cswritersreading@gmail.com), or have that person email the series blog address so I can pass the messages to Kathryn.

Next month, on Friday, November 11th, Denver poet Sandy Tseng will be our guest author. Sandy currently teaches at Metropolitan State College and is the author of a book of poems called Sediment. She's been a delight to work with and I can't wait for everyone to hear her work.

Remember, we're usually in the main gallery of the BAC, but sometimes we end up moving due to various art exhibits. If we're in Venue 515 again, there will be plenty of signs posted directing everyone next door. Not a major change.

See you guys next month,

Abby E Murray

CSWRS Coordinator

P.S. My pumpkin cookies complimented the wine bar well at the reading. Just thought I'd say so.